Research Article

Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque

Volume: 3 December 30, 2021
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Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque

Abstract

With its revival of classical Ottoman forms, Şişli Mosque (1945–1949) has often been overlooked as an anachronistic reaction to the Turkish Republic’s secular modernist architecture of the 1930s and 40s. However, its eclectic design by restorer-architect Vasfi Egeli and attentive craftsmanship executed by the last Ottoman-trained masters distinguish the Şişli Mosque from the mass-produced followers it inspired. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the first decades of the newly established republic, formal permission was not granted for any major religious construction projects until 1945 when ground broke on Şişli Mosque. This study examines architect Vasfi Egeli’s nationalization of classical Ottoman mosque architecture during the İnönü era, citations in the mosque’s decorative program, and the influence of restoration activities. As the first monumental mosque in the Turkish Republic, Şişli Mosque set an influential precedent in its reconciliation of classical Ottoman architecture with a nationalized Turkish Islamic identity and rearticulation of the mosque within the context of republican era religious reforms.

Keywords

Thanks

This article is indebted to the guidance of Professor Gülru Necipoğlu and Dr. Himmet Taşkömür who supervised my undergraduate honors thesis from which this article is adapted. Research and fieldwork in Turkey were generously supported by an Abramson Travel Fellowship from the Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University. I would like to express my gratitude to Hüseyin Erek, Director of the Şişli Mosque Foundation; Anne Joyce; Özge Yıldız; and Dr. Perin Gürel for their support. Many thanks to the anonymous reviewers of the article, as well as the editors and copyeditors of YILLIK

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

-

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

December 30, 2021

Submission Date

June 15, 2021

Acceptance Date

September 24, 2021

Published in Issue

Year 2021 Volume: 3

APA
Moulton, G. (2021). Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque. YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies, 3, 39-68. https://doi.org/10.53979/yillik.2021.3
AMA
1.Moulton G. Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque. YILLIK. 2021;3:39-68. doi:10.53979/yillik.2021.3
Chicago
Moulton, Gavin. 2021. “Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque”. YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies 3 (December): 39-68. https://doi.org/10.53979/yillik.2021.3.
EndNote
Moulton G (December 1, 2021) Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque. YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies 3 39–68.
IEEE
[1]G. Moulton, “Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque”, YILLIK, vol. 3, pp. 39–68, Dec. 2021, doi: 10.53979/yillik.2021.3.
ISNAD
Moulton, Gavin. “Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque”. YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies 3 (December 1, 2021): 39-68. https://doi.org/10.53979/yillik.2021.3.
JAMA
1.Moulton G. Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque. YILLIK. 2021;3:39–68.
MLA
Moulton, Gavin. “Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque”. YILLIK: Annual of Istanbul Studies, vol. 3, Dec. 2021, pp. 39-68, doi:10.53979/yillik.2021.3.
Vancouver
1.Gavin Moulton. Mid-Century Sinan: Vasfi Egeli and the Turkish Republic’s First Mosque. YILLIK. 2021 Dec. 1;3:39-68. doi:10.53979/yillik.2021.3